Danny Harf's Backside 7 Takes Brostock 2010

As most all of you already know, there is an annual contest/party that goes on by the name of Brostock. Liquid Force wakeboards, along with Monster Energy, puts on the biggest wakeboarding event of the year with the biggest prize payout in wakeboarding.

Up until this year, Brostock has taken place at Lake Powell in Utah, but it has moved its way over a few states to Bull Shoals, Arkansas. I had the pleasure of attending Brostock this year for the first time and all I can say is that it definitely goes down exactly how you would imagine it would go down…lots of wakeboarders, lots of yelling, lots of women, lots of double ups and some beer.

The event kicked off Friday night with the meet and greet party at the Bel Arco resort where most of the night festivities took place. The resort was a perfect spot since it had a full bar and restaurant so all the people and fans could come and hang out with the riders. But don’t be fooled. Brostock was still out on the houseboats as well, so it still had its original party funk and wasn’t landlocked the whole time.

Friday night was the night where all of us would find out who we were riding against. Basically, the top seeds from years prior would pull three other names out of a hat to see who will join them in the heat. After that was all said and done, it was definitely time to put the game face on and enjoy the evening.

As the sun started to rise the next morning, our eyelids were slow to follow. However, when they finally did pop open, it was time to get things rollin'. I remember looking out of the houseboat at around 9:00 AM and seeing quite a few boats hanging around getting ready for the action, but since no one was really awake yet, I just joined in on the party and took an “early morning nap” to eventually awaken to what looked like three or four hundred boats all parked in one big open circle! Oh, and Garrett Cortese getting iced. This thing was on! Double up time.

So the rules went like this: First round - 20 riders, three double ups, one right, one left, one of your choice. Top two of each heat move to the next round, which is a head-to-head battle for a spot in a five-man final. There were three judges; Parks Bonifay, Brian Grubb and Tony Smith. Simple right? Negative.

I would hate to be a judge at this one because there were a lot of things thrown down. The first heat consisted of Joey Bradley, Ricky G, James Balzer and Shawn Watson. Joey threw down a huge indy tantrum to blind and a frontside 7, while Ricky G nailed a switch Pete Rose. Making it through to the next round though were James Balzer with a backside 5 and Shawn Watson with a wrapped frontside mute 7.

Rolling in on the second heat was young gun Nick Galotifiore, Ben Greenwood, Aaron “Freedom” Reed and Kevin Henshaw. Ben stuck a massive Pete and came really close to a wrapped, off-axis backside 5, but was cut short by Nick with his frontside 9 and Henshaw with his backside 7.

Splashing in for heat 3 were the brothers Soven, Adam Fields and Mike Ennen. It's happening too often now that Bob and Phil collide in a contest against each other and too often that it comes down to a hard decision. As Adam Fields clearly made it through to the next round with his humongous front mobe 5, it was still a toss-up between the brothers. However, Bob did it again to older brother Phil and walked his gingered ass up to the next round with his toeside 9 besting Phil's wrapped back 7.

Now heat 4 was a little interesting as well with Jimmy LaRiche, Adam Errington, Tom Fooshee and myself. Tom went out first and laid down a heel 7, while Adam followed it up with the most poked out indy glide I have ever seen. Unfortunately, Jimmy and I both kind of choked it after them and didn’t land any of our double ups, which automatically put Adam and Tom to the next round. Hey, these things happen. Party on.

Last, but certainly not least, was heat 5, which had Danny Hampson, Chris O’Shea, Gabe Lucas and Danny Harf. Holy crap, entertainment at its finest! Not only did I get to watch Chris O kill it with his wrapped front 7 and watch my favorite front mobe in the biz from Gabe, but I got to watch Danny Harf land a switch toe 10 right in front of me, making it my first 1080 I got to see in real life. Thanks again for that, Dan. I mean, the thing was perfect!

After the extended party break, it was time to get into the head-to-head semifinals, which were again pulled out of a hat from the top seed of each previous heat. The head to head went; Watson vs. Bob, Nick G vs. Tom, Adam Fields vs. Balzer, Adam Errington vs. Gabe Lucas and Danny Harf vs. Henshaw. Each person got two double ups of their choice. Bob took out Watson, Nick G got a walk in the park since Tom didn’t land any of his, Fields took out Balzer with a big ol’ front mobe, A-train knocked out Gabe with a heel 9 and Danny said goodbye to Henshaw and rode himself into the finals…and then there were five.

As the finals kicked off, all eyes were on the water to see who was going to be crowned the 2010 Brostock champ. In the finals it was back to three double ups per rider again. First off the dock, or I guess I should say houseboat, was Nick Galotifiore. Nick started things off with a switch front 5 and then gave a couple regular heel 10's a shot and came really close, but no cigar.

Next up was Adam Fields who was charging it all day long and just kept the ball rolling for the finals with a Pete 5 and a huge S-bend.

After Adam was Bob who just went for some switch toe 10's every try and came so close that I thought he landed one and was riding away, but, again, no cigar.

Adam "A-train" Errington was up next and he stomped a toe 9 clean as ever on his first hit and then gave the second and third hits some 1080 attempts as well, but couldn’t quite get the board under his feet.

Then it all came down to this guy, Danny Harf. As of this point, Adam Fields was sitting pretty in first place with his Pete 5. Then Danny goes out and falls on his first two hits and brings it all down to the final double up. At this point, everyone was on their feet and rafts biting their finger nails off. Danny came into D-up #3 and landed a toe back 3, but the boat was going really slow so he got a re-ride. On re-ride #1 he falls on a toe back 7. At this point everyone thinks that Adam has done it, but from the boat's standpoint, another re-ride was needed for Danny and it just builds the pressure up even more. But, of course, Danny comes through, pressure and all, to stick a very expensive toe back 7, giving him the W for the second year in a row.

After continuing the Brostock tradition of shooting off a ton of fireworks at each other and a live show from the new hit air band, The Bloody Virgins, it was time to head the houseboats back to Bel Arco resort to do the awards party.

All in all, Brostock was everything I had hoped for and much more and I'm sure next year will be just as crazy, if not crazier. I recommend you be there!